Grief Counseling

Grief is the common, human response to loss. All must take must take necessary journey some day.

Grief hurts, but it need not lead to suffering. Suffering is pain without meaning, pain that fails to move to a productive end.

When the pain of grief persists without resolution, or when grief undermines your ability to fulfill your responsibilities, it may be time to consider grief counseling. Although grief hurts. It need not result in suffering.

When we experience loss, we must adapt to a new world -- a world that has changed forever. Grief is this process of becoming someone new in the absence of who (or sometimes what) we have lost.

Most recognize grief as an emotional response, but it really includes all aspects of one's being. It can express itself in physical exhaustion, spiritual confusion, and social dislocation as well.

Often people manage this difficult process without professional help. They find support from family and friends. They take steps to address self-care. They successfully integrate their loss in their lives.

But sometimes grief is overwhelming. Rather than leading to integration, the process stalls and results in debilitation.

The reasons for this are many. Remember, when grief becomes debilitating, you can get help.

Grief counseling provides a place where you process your loss with the support of someone who guides and supports you through the journey. This does not make the pain go away. Nothing can do that, nor should that be the goal.

When the pain of grief is avoided rather than engaged, it persists as an unconscious process that undermines your mental health.

Grief counseling does not make the pain go away. It makes the pain productive. It helps you resolve your loss so you can live your life, not forgetful of your loss, nor devaluing what this relationship has meant for you, but having embraced your loss as an opportunity of solemn enrichment you will carry with you forever.